10 startups selected among 500 candidates for the first edition of the European Startup Prize for mobility

10 startups have been chosen by the selection committee of the European Startup Prize for mobility, the largest European initiative supporting mobility entrepreneurs. They will take part in an immersion tour of the main European technological ecosystems.

Four of them will be selected during a pitch session by a jury of experts on February 22nd in Brussels, in order to benefit from a complementary legal & business coaching programme by The Boston Consulting Group and law firms.

Strasbourg, 7 February 2018 – Mobility is considered a major challenge both for people and for the planet. This is why the President of the European Parliament’s Transport Committee, Karima Delli, has decided to bring Europe’s leading public and private players together to support innovation in order to promote sustainable, connected and shared mobility. To implement this groundbreaking initiative, she has established a partnership with The Boston Consulting Group and VIA ID, the new mobility startup accelerator.

For Karima Delli, “The result of this cooperation, the European Startup Prize for mobility, aims to build a prosperous and dynamic ‘European valley’ by responding to the challenges of accelerating European mobility startups. Our objective is to make Europe the new playground for startups, and to entrust with with responding to the two major challenges of tomorrow: the fight against climate change and the co-construction of a Europe of projects.”

Europe : the new playground for mobility

This first edition of the European Startup Prize for mobility has been an opportunity for the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) (1) and Via ID (2) to investigate the development of European mobility startups. 64% of those surveyed by BCG consider their development on the continent to be a priority but are facing several challenges. “Financing, access to cities and governments, and regulatory differences between countries are identified as the biggest obstacles. European Startup Prize for mobility will help startups to overcome them”, says Joël Hazan, associate director of the Boston Consulting Group and fellow at the Bruce Henderson Institute.

For Jean-François Dhinaux of Via ID, who analysed the profiles of the candidate startups : “they mainly focus on urban mobility and aspire to improve the mobility of people (59%). However, they respond to mobility issues differently depending on their culture. For example, while the Spanish and French startups are service-oriented, the Finnish and German startups put more emphasis on their technical and software skills.”

10 startups selected among 500 candidates representing all European countries

This first edition of the European Startup Prize for mobility was a great success, with nearly 500 startups from all over Europe responding to the call for applications. 10 of them were selected on the basis of criteria such as their ecological and social impact, the degree of innovation of their product or service, or their traction, i.e. their ability to attract investors and customers.

These 10 startups will all participate in the coming months in a tour of the biggest European tech events during which they will meet investors, partners and potential future clients. Four of them will receive awards during a pitch session open to the press on Thursday, February 22nd in Brussels with a tailor-made accompaniment designed by The Boston Consulting Group, Parallel Avocats and Grimaldi Studio.

AddSeat – Sweden – An innovative electric vehicle to facilitate short journeys for people with reduced mobility.

Due to the high quality of some projects outside the European Union, the selection committee decided to create a special prize. A Swiss startup was selected, BestMile, an autonomous vehicle fleet management platform.

3 startups will also be highlighted for the quality of their European development, the French Drivy and Stuart and the Estonian Txfy.

See you on February 22nd in Brussels!

On 22 February, the 10 finalists will pitch their project in front of a jury of mobility experts, including Frédéric Mazzella, CEO and founder of BlaBlaCar, who will speak on the development of startups in the European market; Gilles Babinet, Digital Champion at the European Commission and Tanja Kufner, Director of Germany’s largest startup accelerator.

This event, which will be marked by European innovation with the intervention of two guest speakers Bertrand Piccard, President of Solar Impulse and Violeta Bulc, European Commissioner for Transport, will also be an opportunity to exchange views with Elisabeth Borne the French Minister of Transport and Jean Todt, President of the FIA.

(1)“Mobility startups: Europe is the new playground!”

Europe first! This is the main finding of the “Mobility startups: Europe is the new playground!” survey conducted by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG). Conducted among 200 startup candidates from 23 European countries, this survey reveals that 64% of startups questioned consider their development on the continent to be a priority. However, there are a number of barriers including the access to fundings, to cities and governments, and differences in regulations between countries.

To overcome these challenges, startups would like to benefit from the support of two types of stakeholders: public authorities (36%) and leading mobility companies (manufacturers, operators… – 34%). “Through the European Startup Prize for mobility, our aim is to help these entrepreneurs achieve their European ambitions by helping them to access public decision-makers and industry leaders!” says Joël Hazan, Associate Director of the Boston Consulting Group and fellow at the Bruce Henderson Institute.

The survey also points out that the vast majority of startup founders (72%) are over 30 years old and have turned to mobility after an experience in another sector. Beyond the economic opportunity (23%), two reasons motivate this choice of sector: the desire to contribute to a project with a strong societal dimension (26%) and responding to environmental challenges (23%).

(2) Who are the 500 candidate startups?

Via ID, the accelerator of new mobility startups, has analysed the profiles of the startups candidate to understand their singularity. With startups applying in all EU countries and 7 countries especially represented (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, Finland and the Netherlands), the European mobility playground is a reality. Most of the top 50 mobility startups operate in 4 or more countries.

A common focus, complementary skills

While European startups in all countries mainly focus on urban mobility (“Cities” is one of the most quoted words by the Top 50 of the mobility startups) and 59% of them aspire to improve people’s mobility (vs. the mobility of goods at 14%), they address mobility issues differently depending on their culture. While Spanish and French startups are service-oriented (29% and 25%), Finnish and German startups place greater emphasis on their technical and software skills for mobility (24% and 22%). One-third of the top 50 mobility startups adopt a platform approach.

Changing the world for the better

The 50 best mobility startups have 3 ambitions that guide their actions: to be a “game changer” in mobility and to have a strong social and environmental impact. Soft mobility”, “new energies” and “collaborative” are the most popular themes they address. They also want to make mobility easier and more transparent for people by offering “MaaS” (Mobility as a Service),”Multimodality” and “Connected” solutions.

The ecosystem, a catalyst for growth?

The most advanced startups are in Germany and France, with teams reaching a critical size to enter the acceleration phase (more than 10 employees on average). It is with 4 years of experience and a team of 21 people on average that startups are best equipped to accelerate.

“Depending on the country, startups require more or less time to develop. German startups are the fastest-growing ones (2.6 years and 11.8 employees on average) while English startups, for example, have a different approach with lighter and less people-intensive business models (3.1 years and 6.2 employees on average)”, notes Jean-François Dhinaux of Via ID. In addition, the ecosystem plays an important role in the dynamics of startups: more than one out of every two startups has passed through an incubator in Spain and France, and nearly two out of three startups in Germany.

We use cookies to personalize content and ads to make our site easier for you to use. We also share that information with third parties for advertising and analytics. If you continue to use this site we assume you consent to our use of this data.I acceptI do not acceptRead more